MOTORSPORT – LEWIS Hamilton led Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two in the second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix yesterday while McLaren’s title contender Lando Norris hit the wall.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton, yet to stand on the Formula One podium since he joined Ferrari in January, slipstreamed Leclerc to lap the Baku street circuit in one minute 41.293 seconds.
Teammate Leclerc, on pole position in Baku for the past four seasons without once winning the race, was 0.074 slower.
Hamilton had clipped the barriers in the first session – when he ended up 13th – and damaged his car’s front wing as well as suffering a puncture.
It was the McLaren drivers’ turn in the later afternoon with Norris losing control at turn four and smashing his car’s suspension, ending up 10th despite playing no further part in proceedings.
Piastri then had his own brush with the wall, this time without damage, and was 12th.
The Australian is 31 points clear of Norris with eight rounds remaining and while that battle is set to run, McLaren can clinch the constructors’ title for the second year in a row on Sunday.
Mercedes’ George Russell, who was unwell on Thursday and missed the scheduled media day, completed the top three in practice two but 0.477 off Hamilton’s time. Teammate Kimi Antonelli was fourth.
Oliver Bearman, who has to be careful to avoid a mandatory one-race ban due to accumulated penalty points, was fifth fastest for Haas.
Norris had been fastest in a red-flagged first session with a time of 1:42.704. Piastri was second, 0.310 slower, after the team fixed a power unit problem he suffered on his opening lap.
The first hour-long session was halted for some 25 minutes for kerb repairs.
“There was debris on the track that wasn’t from a car, it was from part of a kerb that had come up, and they are worried it is not secure,” Racing Bulls’ principal Alan Permane told Sky Sports during the session.
Williams had two drivers in the top 10 in the first session, with Alex Albon fifth and Carlos Sainz eighth. Albon was ninth in the later practice, with Sainz 11th.
Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen, who locked up and went off down an escape road before spinning his car around in first practice, was seventh and sixth respectively.
Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was seventh in practice two, ahead of Haas’s Esteban Ocon.
Meanwhile, team boss Andrea Stella said McLaren will not change their approach to the Formula One drivers’ championship once they have secured the constructors’ crown for the second year in a row.
McLaren can seal the team title in Azerbaijan with seven rounds to spare this weekend, leaving Piastri and Norris to battle for the individual championship.
McLaren last won a drivers’ title with Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
Asked about a possible change of approach once the constructors’ was in the bag, Stella said the situation would stay the same.
“The approach to the drivers’ title will not change, this is not dependent on the constructors’,” the Italian told reporters in Baku.
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